Reading Compreh...

[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the question given after it:[/passage-header] Clear air is obviously, not a priority for those living in Delhi, the fourth most polluted city in the world. Center for Science and Environment (CSE) claims that even the politicians are not much bothered about this malady.

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question below.[/passage-header]General knowledge has immense significance today. It is most essential for success. Test of GK base is a common practice.
Yet most of the time we evade it and indulge in confused, inappropriate and ineffective readings leading us nowhere. We keep away from absorbing information, be it specific or general. The reason: we are not trained to collect information and store it in an organized way. Therefore, when we need information we are not able to trace it, though it is in our notes or files. We become persons of no consequence who do not benefit from all the labour we indulged in gathering information we 'thought' useful. But if we want to achieve the desired results, we have to develop a system of storing and arranging the general knowledge and recalling it at appropriate moments.
Remember, information is of no use unless you are able to retrieve it. For example, you can keep a notebook handy to jot down new facts and ideas before they go out of your memory bank. Prepare note cards and on each card do not write full details. Compress each point to a single word or short phrase. Leave sufficient spaces between the lines and on the margin. Write on one side of the card and use different colour inks to identify different points. Number all your cards.
You can use keywords to identify main subject areas before filing your notes or clippings from newspapers and magazines. Jot down the sources on your notes and clippings.
Regular reading helps in building a sound general knowledge bank. It needs determination and effort. You have to develop a passion for reading. If you do not, you surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question below.[/passage-header]In India working women lead a life of dual responsibilities if they are married and have a family. In the west, many women are hard -headed careerists and are committed to their jobs. Here in India women still have traditional roles to fulfill and prefer a career to avoid domestic drudgery.
There are four categories of working women in India. Some work while they are waiting for matrimony. A majority work because they are qualified, want a second income and different kind of life for part of the day. A small section consists of career women. A sizeable number of women are breadwinners.
It is quite apparent that with a majority of working women the family takes precedence over the job. They prefer to stay in joint families where their children can be taken care of while they are at work. When they come back in the evenings from the relatively modem surroundings of their work -- spots, their personalities have to undergo a change to accommodate the demands on their time and attention by different family members whose predominant feelings are of having been neglected. These women often do their shopping on the way from the office. They reserve their weekends for heavy housework which will help them to cope with the rest of the week with relatively less tension. Weekends are also reserved for spending time with their spouses and children, for entertainment, family duties, visits and other such endless chores. Actually speaking, they hardly have time for personal needs. Despite the freedom and confidence of their jobs and pay packets, working women still prefer to leave the financial decision -- making and budgeting to their husbands. They are unwilling to compromise on their dual burdens and prefer jobs with flexible timings. They are managing their double roles admirably.

[passage-header]Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]Life is a struggle. "We live in deeds and not in years." If we rest, we rust. If we work, we shine like jewels. Adventures are the essence of life but action also entails contemplation. Proper action needs the proper initiative. Napoleon took the wrong initiative and brought the downfall of France. Proper action is always taken by the wise persons. The wise person always foreshadows the hardships of executing a policy. They become passive when they forecast that their efforts are at stake. All great leaders and diplomats take the steps keeping in view their reputation. We should strike when the iron is hot. Some persons take the steps haphazardly with the result that they lose the opportunity and thus they are treated as fools. Angles are wise people and very particular about their action. It has been the aim of all philosophers to understand the world. After understanding, they move very gradually and not like fools who plunge into the situation without contemplation. Mr. Ayub Khan under Bhutto's influence plunged into war with India inflicting destruction on humanity. Our ex-prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri gauged the situation. He responded to the challenge of Pakistan and won the battle. Fools always meddle with the situation without bringing about any change but wise persons penetrate into the matter and take the appropriate action.

[passage-header]Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]In the second year of the reign of Valentinian and Valens, on the morning of the twenty-first day of July, the greatest part of the Roman world was shaken by a violent and destructive earthquake. 54964The impression was communicated to the waters; the shores of the Mediterranean were left dry, by the sudden retreat of the sea; 33918great quantities of fish were caught with the hand; large vessels were stranded on the mud; and 12641a curious spectator amused his eye, or rather his fancy, by contemplating the various appearance of valleys and mountains, which had never, since the formation of the globe, been exposed to the sun54988. 84072But the tide soon returned, with the weight of an immense and irresistible deluge, which was severely felt57200 on the coasts of Sicily, of Dalmatia, of Greece, and of Egypt: large boats were transported and lodged on the roofs of houses, or at the distance of two miles from the shore; the people, with their habitations, were swept away by the waters, and 43077the city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty thousand persons had lost their lives in the inundation.38735
   This calamity, the report of which was magnified from one province to another, astonished and terrified the subjects of Rome; and their affrighted imagination enlarged the real extent of a momentary evil. They recollected the preceding earthquakes, which had subverted the cities of Palestine and Bithynia: 38648they considered these alarming strokes as the prelude only of still more dreadful calamities99185, and their fearful vanity was disposed to confound the symptoms of 45472declining empire and a sinking world.
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[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the question given after it. [/passage-header]Conducting interviews of parents is vital to the whole process of school admissions. Most progressive schools believe in the involvement of parents in a child's admission test. Interviews, therefore, become the first building block of a long-term relationship between the schools and the parents.

The main objective of an interview is to find out the value system of the parents and to see whether they are in sync with the school's philosophy and vision. It is extremely important to develop at the beginning itself, a good relationship between parents and teachers. A parent is the child's first teacher and critical to his/her success. It's always good for schools to know in advance what parents expect from the school. This knowledge can be attained by interviewing parents. Parents are also interviewed to assess their ward's behavior.

A school is a heterogeneous entity. There are some bright pupils and some not so bright ones; some are good in sports, while others have no artistic bent of mind. These hidden talents come to the fore only when the school authorities interact with parents.

Critics may argue interviews put too much pressure on parents. Indeed, parents get tense but then such interactions happen in a pleasant atmosphere. Many schools are now emphasizing on extra-curricular activities, which means students have to spend more time in school and interact more with their peers. Therefore, it becomes imperative to have the right mix of pupils from different backgrounds. Interviews help schools choose the right combination of students. 

[passage-header]Read the poem and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]Ye living lamps, by whose dear light
The nightingale does sit so late,
And studying all the summer night,
57300Her matchless songs does meditate;

Ye country comets, that 57381portend
No war nor prince's funeral,
Shining unto no 15171higher end
Than to presage the grass's fall;

Ye glowworms, whose 59681officious flame
To wandering mowers show the way,
That in the night have 48636lost their aim,
And after foolish fires do stray;

Your courteous light in vain you waste,
Since Juliana here is come,
For she my mind hath so displaced
That I shall never find my home.
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[passage-header]Read the conversation given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]ROSE: Times have changed since you was playing baseball, Troy. That was before the war. Times have changed a lot since then.
TROY: How in hell they done changed?

[passage-footer](1986)
*Josh Gibson was a notable baseball player in the Negro Leagues.[/passage-footer]

[passage-header]Read the question and answer the question below.[/passage-header]Clean air is obviously not a priority for those living in Delhi, the fourth most polluted city in the world. Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) claims that even the politicians are not much bothered about this malady. 
Although Delhi has the largest incidence of asthma among school children, only a small section of society seems aware that this is caused by the high levels of carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, suspended particulate matter (SPM), lead and benzene. Besides asthma, air pollution can also cause respiratory illnesses and cancer.
"Youngsters like my son wonder why I spend Rs. 30 every six months on getting a Pollution Under Control Certificate when most vehicle - owners don't bother to do so", says a professor at the IIT's energy studies department.
For the embassy personnel in the city, pollution is a preoccupation, according to the professor. He recalls how a scientist attached to a foreign embassy approached him to know if there were any gadgets available to measure air pollution levels in Indian schools.
"He was worried because their children study in these schools", recounts the professor. It is when you see air pollution that it gets worrying. He also recalls how his white shirt turns patchy by the time he reaches home in the evening. "About 65 percent of Delhi's air pollution is vehicular, another 5 percent is contributed by thermal power stations and industries", says the professor.

[passage-header]"There Is No Frigate Like a Book"[/passage-header]73011There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away
Nor any 89174coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
18632This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears the human soul!
[passage-footer]"There Is No Frigate Like a Book" was written by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). Her simple poems are filled with imagery.[/passage-footer]